MUSIC 4Film Music

3 credits · Music · Penn State

An introductory examination of music's role in Hollywood narrative film from the classic era (1930s and 1940s) to the present. MUSIC 4 Film Music (3) (GA)The course examines the role of music in narrative film, the premier art form of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The popularity, significance, and value of film art would not be what it is today if music had not become an integral--indeed, indispensable--part of motion pictures from the outset. Preliminary objectives will include basic musical information (the fundamental elements of music; the broad stylistic eras of western music and their associated characteristics; the culturally encoded language of tonal music and associated musical meaning) and the main techniques of narrative film. The main objectives of the course are: to identify and recognize the principles of nondiegetic music in narrative film; to identify and recognize the purpose and functions of music in narrative film; to recognize some of the historic eras/genres/trends in Hollywood film making; to identify and recognize selected films, directors and composers; to analyze and articulate the role of music in a given scene and in a given film; and to recognize underlying assumptions and values of the culture conveyed through the diegesis. These objectives will be met by addressing such questions as: What are the underlying principles of music in film? What are the functions of music/sound within a particular scene and how does it achieve those functions? What do we see of what we hear, and what do we hear of what we see--and why? What secrets does music tell? To what extent does music influence--even control-- our interpretation of a film? More broadly, to what extent do films reflect our culture, past and present--our interests, our values?